Read Online Thirteen, Fourteen... Little Boy Unseen by Willow Rose - Free Book Online Page A

enjoyed much, especially not when they were one day told to take off their clothes and engage in genital inspections, while he took pictures. When their parents protested, the therapist simply stated that it was an important part of the treatment, since childhood was sexual rehearsal play and that laid the foundation for a healthy adult gender identity .
    After that, no one questioned the therapist’s methods, since it was all in the best interest of Alex, but the boy saw how it affected his sister, how a sadness started to grow inside of her. She knew how much trouble she was to her family, how much they wanted to change her, and that sowed a seed of self-loathing that soon started eating her from the inside. Not only would she cry at night, she also started hurting herself with whatever she could get her hands on. Once, he found her cutting herself with scissors. She was sitting in her bed at night, just letting the blood run from her wrists onto the bed, soaking the sheet. Terrified, he pulled the scissors away, then grabbed her in his arms and held her tight.
    “Don’t EVER do that again!”
    Alex tried to pull away while crying, “I’m an alien. I am an ALIEN!”
    “No, you’re not. You’re my sister. You hear me? I can’t live without you!”
    “How can I be your sister? I’m not a girl; I’m not a boy. If I’m not an alien, then who am I?”
    The boy had no answer for that.
     

20
    “I can’t believe you.”
    We were driving across the bridge leading to Enoe when I had finally calmed down enough to talk. Sune sat with his camera between his hands. He didn’t look at me.
    “I just wanted to have a little fun,” he grumbled. “Jeppe came over and asked if I wanted to go. Geez. Calm down, would you?”
    I took in a deep breath and remembered my dad’s advice.
    Don’t make a big deal of it, I told myself. It’s not like he did anything really bad. It’s not like he cheated on you.
    But it felt like it. I guess that was why I reacted like I did. I felt like he was slipping away, like someone was pulling him out of my hands. Someone younger and more fun.
    “I’m sorry,” I said. “I just didn’t want you to miss out on this assignment. And I hate when you don’t answer your phone. Ever since the accident, I’ve been so scared of something happening to you or the kids. I guess it’s just what happens when you realize how fast your life can change, how fragile your life is…”
    I paused and thought about David. We had talked about this yesterday at the port. I was suddenly overwhelmed with guilt. I hadn’t told Sune I had been with David. It was wrong.
    “Sune…I…”
    I didn’t get any further before Sune interrupted me. “Sometimes you act like you think you’re my mother. I really don’t like that. It’s got to stop, Rebekka. I’m a grown man. I’m allowed to do what I want to.”
    “You’re right,” I said, as we reached Enoe and drove towards the beach. It was one of those gray January days where the sun simply didn’t bother to peek out through the thick layer of clouds. It would set in the early afternoon anyway, so I couldn’t really blame it.
    “I’ll get better at this, okay?”
    “Jeppe even says that you…”
    “Wait a minute…Jeppe?” I said. “Is that where all of this is suddenly coming from?”
    “No. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. Jeppe just said yesterday that he thought it seemed like you were my mother.”
    “Well, stop acting like a child, then,” I said.
    I stopped the car in front of a lot. The foundation for the house was almost in, and five workers were working on finishing it. I spotted a couple that I believed had to be the future owners of the country’s first sand house.
    “Excuse me?” Sune said. “Who is it that takes care of the kids every morning and makes sure they get to school? Who picks them up when you’re too busy? Who does all the housework at home? Who grocery shops? Who vacuums and cleans and washes all the